lighthouse

by Starbhen

"Body-Consciousness and
Soul-Consciousness"

In
the last issue of this Gazette, I presented the three faculties of the soul:
Mind, Intellect and Sanskaras or Sub-conscious Mind and that the joint
functioning of these three produces what is known as consciousness.

Basically,
there are two levels of consciousness: “I am a body” or body- consciousness
and “I am a soul” or soul-consciousness. When one believes to be a body, the
thought process is trapped in the limitation, problem and vision of the physical
identity. Below is a typical father-son relationship that illustrates the
difference between body-consciousness and soul-consciousness.

Body-consciousness

(&Soul-consciousness)

Awareness:

I am the father. I know the most.

(I am a soul. My natural state is lovve and peace)

Thought:

My son should listen to me as he is my own flesh and blood.

(My son is a soul too. As a soul, he is my brother.)

Decision:

I will teach him a lesson.

(I will respect his idea also.)

Action:

Father argues with
son.

(Father and son
discuss with respect.)

Result:

Ill feeling between father and
son.

(Respect maintained.)

The example clearly shows the benefits of having
soul-consciousness relationship, i.e. seeing the other as a soul and not as a
body.

In body-consciousness, the soul believing itself to be a body, becomes
insecure. It tries to compensate with material things, status, profession,
relationship, which while appearing to give comfort and safety, in reality
becomes a source of worry and depression. The insecurity then manifests as lust,
greed, ego, anger and attachment. Lust is the search for security through
possessions or selfish relationships. Greed is the search for security through
the accumulation of things, money, status, etc. and keeping one’s stomach
always full. Ego is the search for security through the wearing of many masks
related to the roles that one has to play. Anger is the guard which tries to
protect the false sense of security when any of the other four are threatened.
It manifests in the form of harsh words and violent actions.

In soul-consciousness, the soul is in its rightful place as a ruler of
the body, sitting on its throne between the eyebrows. Soul-consciousness is also
the awareness of its original state of peace, love, purity, power and happiness.
In truth, each person is a brother to one another and we are all visitors to
this earth. We are all actors/players in this eternal world drama. The soul hasno sex, nationality or race, nor does it age. Knowing these, we see not
only our true value, but the value of others and the true value of the world
around us.